Cotton gin with mote chamber having separable unit including mote duct, air pressure chamber and moting and doffing nozzles



Jan. 5, 1965 J. J. WALLACE 3,163,839

COTTON GIN WITH MOTE CHAMBER HAVING SEPARABLE UNIT INCLUDING MOTE DUCT, AIR PRESSURE CHAMBER AND MOTING AND DOFFING' NOZZLES 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Sept. 18, 1962 Jan. 5, 1965 J. J. WALLACE 3,163,839

co'r'rou cm WITH MOTE CHAMBER HAVING SEPARABLE UNIT INCLUDING MOTE DUCT, AIR PRESSURE CHAMBER AND MOTING AND DOFFING NOZZLES Filed Sept. 18, 1962 r 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 United States Patent CD'ITQN GEN MUEE CHAMBER HAVENG SEPARABLE UNIT HNQLUDHNG MGTE DUCT, AER PREs'iSURE CHAMBER AND MQTKNG AND DOFFING NGZZLES Jefirey Hahn Wailace, Arnite, 1a., assignor, by mesne assignments, to John T. Gordie, 3. R. Giilian, and Geo. Garrison Potts, jointi aii of Dallas, Tex.

Fiied Sept. 13, 1962, Ser. No. 224,425 8 Cimnis. (6!. 1959) This application is a continuation-in-part of application Serial No. 90,802, filed February 21, 1961, entitled Cotton Gin With Slidably Mounted Breasts, and is a continuation-in-part also of application Serial No. 116,654, filed June 2, 1961, entitled Cotton Gin With Novel Hulling and Ginning Rib Construction, the latter being itself a continuation-in-part of application Serial No. 63,886, filed October 20, 1960, now abandoned.

This invention relates to a cotton gin, including instrumentalities and the novel arrangement of the same, for keeping separate pneumatically the lint fibers and motes which are thrown discretely from the saw cylinder at the ginning point into the mote chamber, the latter being the space within the gin to the rear of the ginning ribs and above the saw cylinder, conducting the thrown lint into the roll box, conducting the motes to a mote duct, doffing the lint that is attached to the saw cylinder at a point outside of said mote chamber, blowing it into a lint flue, and protecting the attached lint from contamination by the motes in the mote chamber while the attached lint is traveling through the mote chamber on its way from the ginning to doffing points.

One of the objects of the invention is to provide a cotton gin of the type described, the mote duct of which has a flaring mouth with rectilinear lower edge across the gin, and an air pressure nozzle for directing a blast into the mouth or" the duct intercepting the motes and trash in flight and conveying them into said mouth above its lower edge so that if green and sticky hull fragments are thrown off with the motes they will not contact the lower edge and build up into a viscous mass at the mouth of the mote duct.

Another object of the invention is the provision of a cotton gin of the type described, including the air pressure nozzle, having an entrance opening to the roll box from the mote chamber functioning to admit to the roll box the lint freed at the ginning point from the saw cylinder and drawn upward into said opening by the pull of vacuum created by the rotation of the roll in the roll box past said opening, the blast from the air pressure nozzle entraining air from the atmosphehre within the mote chamber which may become partially satisfied by air leakages from various quarters, being in itself generally insufficient to interfere with the orderly upward flow of the free lint into the roll box.

Still another object of the invention as described is the provision of a definite air inlet to the mote chamber having an adjustable closure which when opened admits a current of air, induced by the vacuum in the mote chamber, which guided by the contour of the walls of the mote chamber is diverted from proximity to the upwardly rising column of lint and directed to sweep across the mote chamber toward the mote duct, clearing the atmosphere of a large portion of the lighter, drifting motes that otherwise would settle on the exposed attached cotton on the saw cylinder.

A further object of the invention is the provision of an air pressure chamber, in a cotton gin of the type described, normally fitting an aperture in the casing of the gin at the rear, carrying at its front the moting blast nozzle and also a lint doffing nozzle operatively positioned with respect to the saw cylinder and a bafl'le adjacent a lint flue for guiding dofied lint into said flue, said pressure chamher being slidably mounted on the gin frame so that it can be separated from the rear of the gin, giving ample access on the one hand to the rear of the ginning ribs,

saw cylinder and lint flue, and on the other hand to the nozzles and mouth of the mote duct.

Other objects of the invention will appear as the following description of a practical embodiment thereof proceeds.

In the drawings which accompany and form a part of the following specification, and throughout which the same reference characters have been used to identify identical parts:

FIGURE 1 is a sectional view through the rear portion of a cotton gin, taken in a vertical plane perpendicular to the axis of the saw cylinder, showing the air pressure chamber and mote duct in operative position;

FIGURE 2 is a sectional view similar to FIGURE 1, but with the air pressure chamber and mote duct rolled away as a unit from the rear of the gin into an inoperative position, the air supply conduit having been previously removed;

FIGURE 3 is a fragmentary view of one of the intercoupling means for locking the air pressure chamber to the gin casing;

FIGURE 4is an enlarged fragmentary view of the saw cylinder and its associated ginning ribs.

Referring now in detail to the drawings, the numeral 1% designates the cotton gin as a whole, comprising a frame 11, gin rails 12, only one being shown, the casing 13, ginning ribs 14, together forming the ginning rib front, roll box 15, the saw cylinder 15;, and the mouth portion 17 of thelint flue 18. In parent application Ser. No. 116,654 the ginning ribs were described in terms of components, the lower component being broadly the equivalent of the conventional ginning rib, the upper component being spaced therefrom and corresponding, positionally, to the cove board, being spaced from the lower component, and the intermediate component being a tie plate bridging the space and integrally joined to the upper and lower components. Since the present invention is not necessarilytied to the rib construction, the lower component is herein referred to as the rib, a mere change in nomenclature.

The ribs 14 terminate above the ginning point, their upper ends being spaced from the cove member 19,-an opening 20 being formed extending across the gin between the ribs and cove member. This space is intersected by thin partition plates 21, fixed to the ribs and cove member. The forward faces of the ribs and cove member form part of vthe inner surface of the roll box and have in general the same radius as the roll 22 within the roll box where it contacts said faces, the roll being shown in broken lines in FIGURE 1. However, at the lower side of said opening and above the ginning point, the ends of the ribs curve inwardly with respect to the upper side, creating a depression a, FIGURE'4, in said roll where it passes across the opening, but which is obliterated by re-expansion of the roll after the depression has passed the opening, the periphery of the roll being indicated at b. The rapid passage of this depression creates a vacuum anterior to the opening, which draws upwardly into the opening such lint as may be unattached to the saws at the ginning point and freed from the mass on the saws by the impact of the ginning action. The partition plates divide the ascending free lint, discouraging lateral entanglement of fibers from adjacent columns. They also protect the rising columns from turbulence caused by spurious air currents in the mote chamber.

The present invention'provides a mote duct 23 con.-

o sisting of a conduit extending widthwisc of the gin having a lateral duct 36 carried to a remote discharge point, the front of said conduit being open and composed of planifornr plates 24 and 25 forming the upper and lower sides of a flaring month which constitute substantially the entire rear wall of the mote chamber opposite the ginning point. The mouth of the mote duct 23 is in the trajectory paths of the larger motes and trash particles thrown off i centrifugally at the ginning point.

A pressure chamber 26 is provided detachably connected to a conduit 27 which leads from a suitable source of air under pressure, not shown. The pressure chamber is mounted upon rollers 28 at opposite sides which engage corresponding track members 29 bolted to the gin and extended rcarwardly. The mote duct23 is fixedly mounted upon the top of the pressure chamber and separable therewith as a unit from the adjacent face of the gin when the pressure chamber is rolled rearwardly upon the tracks as shown in FIG. 2. The pressure chamber and mote duct together fit into an opening in the gin casing so that the flared mouth of the mote duct and the front face 30 of the pressure chamber as a unit constitute part of the cas ing of the gin extending from the upper edgetof the mouth of the mote duct to a point below the mouth of the lint flue.

The front wall of the pressure chamber includes a lip 31, which extends inclinedly upward, in a plane substantially parallel to the plate 25 and being narrowly spaced above the lower margin of said plate to form a blast nozzle 32 that communicates with the interior of the pressure chamber and functions to direct an air blast in sheet form over the surface of plate 25 and into the mote duct. This nozzle operates in conjunction with an atmosphesic air inlet-at thetop of the mote chamber cornprising'an opening 33 in the casing, closable more or less by an adjustable door 34 having a hinged connection 35 V with the casing. Since theillustrated gin has a separable ginning breast that closes against the fixed component that carries'the saw cylinder, .in a plane that intersects the opening 33, the door is of suflicient length to remain supported at its free end upon the casing when the ginning breast is in separated position.

The blast from nozzle 32 entrains air from the atmosphere of the mote chamber, creating a vacuum which draws outside air in through the air inlet. The blast from the nozzle, being in the trajectory paths of the larger motes, intercepts them, conveying them into the mouth of the mote duct and discharging them through the conduit 36. The blast protects the plate 25 from being directly contacted by green and sticky hull particles that would normallybuild up a viscous adherent mass upon the plate 25. The current of atmospheric air entering the mote chamber by way of the opening 33 i diverted from the rising columns of lint between the partitions 21 by the downwardly inclined rear face of the gin rail 12 functioning as a battle, and which overlies the opening 20 and,- entrained by the blast from nozzle 32, it sweeps across the mote chamber purging it of the smaller motes that temporarily float in the atmosphere of the rnote chamber and carrying them off into the moat duct. By this means the cotton on the saw cylinder in the area exposed to the mote chamber is protected from the deposit thereupon of'the smaller motes that would normally settle out of the atmosphere of the mote chamber.

The admission of air to the mote chamber by way of the air inlet 33 must 'be carefully regulated, particularly as the inlet extends the full width of the gin so that a small variation in the opening of the door may amount to a gross adjustment in the amount of air admitted. Too little would create undue attenuation in the atmosphere of the mote chamber and reduce the suction at the open ing 20. Too much would lessen the effectiveness of the blast from the nozzle 32. If the discharge conduit is quite long a suction device, not shown, may be required. as auxiliary to the blast for carrying away the motes.

The magnitude of this suction is necessarily a factor entering into the regulatory function of the adjustable air inlet.

At the base of the lip 31 the pressure chamber is formed with a salient portion having a front edge 37 which extends parallel to the axis of the saw cylinder and at such small distance therefrom as to be engaged by the trailing ends of the locks of cotton attached to the saw teeth, and which ends are lifted by centrifugal force. These ends strike the edge 37 in passing, the impact of their contact driving off loose motes which are picked up by the air flow attending the blast and whisked into the mote duct.

Berow the upper salient just described, the front face of the pressure chamber is so constructed as to provide another salient portion, also associated with the saw cylinder and formed of upper and lower plates 38 and 39 which extend transversely across the pressure chamber, the lower marginal portion of the upper plate overlapping the upper marginal portion of the lower plate, said marginal portions lying in narrowly spaced parallel planes and together forming a doifing nozzle 40 substantially tangent to the saw cylinder. The lower plate is deflected in a forward direction at the mouth of the nozzle in an obstructive position with respect to the jet from said nozzle, so as to divert'the jet in a direction to play upon the teeth, dofiing the cotton therefrom and carrying it to the zone of suction at the mouth of the lint time where it is sucked into the lint flue and transported out of the gin.

The separable unit constituted by the air pressure chamber, the mote duct, and the two nozzles, is comple- I mentary to the adjacent elements of the gin, that is to say, when the unit is in closed position relative to the gin the mouth of the mote duct is in position tov engulf the motes thrown from the saw cylinder at the ginning point with the jet from the blast nozzle intervening to prevent contact of the motes with the lip of the mouth of the duct. The mote duct is also in position to receive the suspended motes caught in the swirl of air admitted by way of the atmospheric airinlet and swept into the mote duct, the air being diverted ductward through. contact with the gin rail, functioning as a bafiie. The salient portion at the top of the forward face of the air pressure chamber is positioned to act as a moting bar for lint attached to the saw teeth having its free ends extended radially through centrifugal force in the path occupied by the bar. The salient portion of the front face at doffing point is in such proximity to the saw cylinder a to form a seal with the saw cylinder to prevent induction of air from the region above said salient portion through entrainment with thetjct from the dofling nozzle. The front wall of the pressure chamber has a third salient portion, the battle 43, which normally overlies the edge of the mouth of the lint flue, deflecting lint into said flue.

For most of these complentary relationships a precise setting of said unit when in closed position is essential. This precision is provided by the adjustable swing bolts 41, as shown in FIGURE 3, hingedly attached to the sides of the air pressure chamber, one at each side, top and bottom. The threaded free ends of these bolts rock into the notches of keeper lugs 42 fixedly mounted on the gin, there being a nut and lock nut on each threaded end which can be suitably adjusted along the threaded end with the notches between the nuts. 7 7

While I have in the above description disclosed a practical embodiment of the invention, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that the specific construction,

contiguous to said casing, said members being positionally correlated to define amote chamber, the ginning ribs and roll box being at one side of said chamber, the mote duct being at the opposite side, and at the bottom, the saw cylinder, the saws of which intersect the roll box and interleave with the ribs, the locus of intersection of their peripherie with said ribs defining a ginning point, said mote duct having a flaring mouth with upper and lower sides, the lower side being positioned to confront the trajectory path of motes centrifugally thrown from the saw cylinder at the ginning point, and means forming a nozzle adjacent said lower side positioned to direct a blast of air across said lower side and substantially parallel thereto, for intercepting said motes before they contact said side, and taking them into said mote duct, an enclosure constituting an air pressure chamber normally contiguous to said casing, positioned beneath said mote duct and being unitary therewith, said pressure chamber being in communication with said nozzle, said pressure chamber and mote duct being separable as a unit from said casing along a rectilinear reciprocative path.

2. In a cotton gin including the following members, a casing within said casing a roll box having wall means, ginning ribs and a saw cylinder having saws, and a mote duct normally contiguous to said casing, said members being positionally correlated to define a mote chamber, the ginning ribs and roll box being at one side of said chamber, the mote duct being at the opposite side, and at the bottom, the saw cylinder, the saws of which intersect the roll box and interleave with the ribs, their peripheries establishing with the ribs ginning point, the upper portions of the ribs forming part of the roll box, the chamber thus defined being overlain by the casing, said mote duct including a mouth having flaring upper and lower sides, the lower side confronting the trajectory path of motes centrifugally thrown from the saw cylinder at the ginning point, means forming a nozzle positioned to direct a blast of air upward across said lower side and substantially parallel thereto, for intercepting said motes before they contact said side, and taking them into the mote duct, the wall means of the roll box having an opening therethrough between said mote chamber and roll box above and to the rear of the ginning point, said wall means, within said roll box being curved inwardly from the lower side of said opening creating a recess in the periphery of the roll in the roll box as it crosses said opening, inducing vacuum at said opening for drawing lint freed at the ginning point upward into said opening, the overlying part of said casing having an air inlet providing an air flow through said mote chamber into said mote duct caused by entrainment of the atmosphere of said mote chamber with the blast from said nozzle, thereby purging the chamber of suspended motes, partition plates extending rearward of and upward from said ribs intersecting said opening dividing the ascending lint into columns to permit its orderly how in columns toward said opening without lateral entanglement between columns.

3. In a cotton gin as claimed in claim 2, the cotton gin including a lint duct below said saw cylinder baffle means forming part of the wall means of said mote chamber overlying the upper ends of said partition plates, positioned to divert the air entering through said inlet away from the partitioned columns of lint and toward the mouth of the lint duct.

4. In a cotton gin including the following members, a casing, and within said casing a roll box, ginning ribs and a saw cylinder having saws and a mote duct normally contiguous to said casing, said members being positionally correlated to define a mote chamber, the ginning ribs and roll box being at one side of said chamber, the mote duct being at the opposite side, and at the bottom, the saw cylinder, the saw of which interleave with the ribs, their peripheries establishing with the ribs, a ginning point, a dofiing point spaced circumferentially along the saw peripheries from said ginning point, a lint flue below said saw cylinder, said mote duct including a mouth having flaring upper and lower sides,'the lower side being positioned to confront the trajectory paths of motescentrifugally thrown at the ginning point, an enclosure having a front wallfacing the gin, forming an air pressure chamber positioned below the mote duct and at the rearof the saw cylinder and lint flue, to which air under pressure is supplied from a source extraneous to the gin, the said front wall having salient portions in close prom'mity to said saw cylinder, respectively adjacent the upper end of said front wall and at the dofiingpoint, said mote duct being mounted upon said air pressure chamber as a unit therewith, means forming a blast nozzle at the upper salient position to direct a blast of air upward and across the lower side of said mouth in intercepting relation to the thrown mote before they contact said sideand carrying them into said mote duct, means forming a dofiing nozzle at the salient which is at the dofiing point, positioned to blow lint from the saw cylinder into the lint flue, both nozzles communicating with said air pressure chamber, said mote duct and air pressure chamber as a unit being movable away from the gin elements with which it normally cooperates, to give access to the mouth of the mote duct and the two nozzles, on the one hand, and the gin elements obscured by said unit when closed, on the other.

5. In a cotton gin as claimed in claim 4, including a bafiie on the front wall of said air pressure chamber normally positioned to direct lint into said lint flue.

6. In a cotton gin, a casing and ginning instrumentalities therein contained including ginning ribs, a saw cylinder having saws and a lint flue, the saws of said saw cylinder being interleaved with the ribs, the points of intersection of their peripheries with the ribs establishing aginning point, and a unitcomplementary to said casing and said ginning instrumentalities comprising an air pressure chamber, a mote duct mounted on said chamber unitarily therewith, said mote duct having a mouth positioned to confront the trajectory paths of motes centrifugally thrown at said ginning point, and two nozzles cornmuni eating with said air pressure chamber, means on said gin slidably supporting said unit for closing and separating movement relative to the structure that it complements, said mote duct, nozzles and air pressure chamber being so correlatively positioned that when said unit is in closed position relative to the structure that it complements one nozzle blast, motes thrown from the saws at the ginning point, into the mote duct, while the other nozzle dotfs lint from the saws and blows it into the lint flue, a frarne supporting the casing and ginning instrumentalities, laterally spaced parallel tracks fixed to said frame at opposite sides and extending rearwardly, and rollers upon which said air chamber is mounted supporting said chamber upon said tracks.

7.} In a cotton gin as claimed in claim 4, a frame supporting said ribs, roll box and saw cylinder, parallel tracks fixed to said frame at opposite sides and extending rearwardly, and rollers upon which said air pressure chamber is mounted supporting said air pressure chamber upon said tracks.

8. In a cotton gin including the following members, a casing, and within said casing a roll box, ginning ribs and a saw cylinder, and a mote duct normally contiguous to said casing, said members being positionally correlated to define a mote chamber, the ginning ribs and roll box being at one side of said chamber, the mote duct being at the opposite side, and at the bottom, the saw cylinder having saws, the saws of which interleave with the ribs, the points of intersection of their peripheries with the ribs establishing a ginning point, a doffing point spaced circumferentially along the saw peripheries from said ginning point, the mote duct inciuding a mouth having flaring upper and lower sides, the lower side confronting the trajectory path of motes thrown centrifugally from the saw cylinder at the ginning point, a lint flue below said saw cylinder, an enclosure forming an air pressure chamber positioned beneath said mote duct, rearward of said saw cylinder and lint flue, said mote duct being mounted upon said chamber unitarily therewith, said chamber including a front Wall having salient portions in close proxmity to said saw cylinder respectively adjacent the lower side of said mouth and adjacent the dotfing point, and means forming a nozzle at each salient portion communicating with said chamber, said nozzles being positioned respectively to direct a blast upwardly across said lower side into said mote duct and to direct a dotting blast upon said saw cylinder in the direction of said lint flue, said air pressure chamber and said mote duct being separable a a unit with respect to the gin structure with which they normally cooperate.

' 8 References (Iited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 171,991 1/76 Carver 19-62 1,010,731 12/11 Dickson 19 5s 1,010,732 12/11 Dickson 19 59 1,755,008 4/30 Johnston 19*61 2,204,803 6/40 Grifiin 19-59 2,253,456 8/41 Wallace 19-5s 2,654,126 10/53 Wallace 19--58 10 2,731,674 1/56 Wallace 19-58 RUSSELL C. MADER, Primary Examiner.

DONALD W. PARKER, Examiner. 

1. IN A COTTON GIN INCLUDING THE FOLLOWING MEMBERS, A CASING AND WITHIN SAID CASING A ROLL BOX, GRINNING RIBS AND A SAW CYLINDER HAVING SAWS, AND MOTE DUCT NORMALLY CONTIGUOUS TO SAID CASING, SAID MEMBERS BEING POSITIONALLY CORRELATED TO DEFINE A MOTE CHAMBER, THE GRINNING RIBS AND ROLL BOX BEING AT ONE SIDE OF SAID CHAMBER, THE MOTE DUCT BEING AT THE OPPOSITE SIDE, AND THE BOTTOM, THE SAW CYLINDER, THE SAWS OF WHICH INTERSECT THE ROLL BOX AND INTERLEAVE WITH THE RIBS, THE LOCUS OF INTERSECTION OF THEIR PERIPHERIES WITH SAID RIBS DEFINING A GINNING POINT, SAID MOTE DUCT HAVING A FLARING MOUTH WITH UPPER AND LOWER SIDES, THE LOWER SIDE BEING POSITIONED TO CONFRONT THE TRAJECTORY PATH OF MOTES CENTRIFUGALLY THROW FROM THE SAW CYLINDER AT THE GRINNING POINT, AND MEANS FORMING A NOZZLE ADJACENT SAID LOWER SIDE POSITIONED TO DIRECT A BLAST OF AIR ACROSS SAID LOWER SIDE AND SUBSTANTIALLY PARALLEL THERETO, FOR INTERCEPTING SAID MOTES BEFORE THEY CONTACT SAID SIDE, AND TAKING THEM INTO SAID MOTE DUCT, AN ENCLOSURE CONSITUTING AN AIR PRESSURE CHAMBER NORMALLY CONTIGUOUS TO SAID CASING, POSITIONED BENEATH SAID MOTE DUCT AND BEING UNITARY THEREWITH, SAID PRESSURE CHAMBER BEING COMMUNICATION WITH SAID NOZZLE, SAID PRESSURE CHAMBER AND MOTE DUCT BEING SEPARATABLE AS A UNIT FROM SAID CASING ALONG A RECTILINEAR RECIPROCATIVE PATH. 